Factors influencing renewable energy generation development: a way to environmental sustainability

Since renewable energy has the paramount importance of achieving environmental sustainability, developing countries like Pakistan have been facing numerous renewable energy generation (REG) development challenges. Thus, the REG development in any country can be attributed to its crucial drivers as well as crucial barriers. This work aims to identify crucial influence factors of REG development by conducting multi-facet content analysis as well as partial least square-based structural equation modeling analysis on data collected through a questionnaire survey. It has been conducted based on academicians from four Pakistani universities as well as professionals from Islamabad Electric Supply Company. The key outcomes are as follows: First, through multi-facet content analysis, ten crucial influence factors are identified. Among those factors, lack of good governance, renewable energy adaptation, and governmental energy policies are revealed to be the crucial barriers to REG development, whereas endowed resources, power production approach, renewable energy demand, investment environment for renewable energy projects, economic returns of renewable energy projects, environmental effects, and public acceptance are found to be the crucial drivers of REG development. Based on relative significance, the lack of good governance is unveiled to be the most significant factor, while environmental effects is found to be the least significant one. Moreover, among the drivers of REG development, public acceptance is found to be the prime contributor. At the same time, among crucial barriers, lack of good governance has shown the largest contribution to REG development.